"The Russian insurance market is ending a difficult year," Igor ALEKSEEV, Chairman of the Steering Committee of November Business Meetings of Reinsurers, Deputy Head of the Reinsurance Department, INGOSSTRAKH said today in Moscow.

In his opening remarks at the 2017 edition of the November Business Meetings of Reinsurers, ALEKSEEV mentioned among the difficulties "several regulatory changes, as well as the introduction of the online sales for the MTPL policies." Also, he underlined that "the Russian insurance markets becomes more and more concentrated, the general expectation being that the weak companies will most probably soon abandon the insurance business."

In the global context he spoke about the large impact of the numerous nat cat events that have affected the U.S.A, Mexico as well as the European continent. "The renewal will be more challenging, most probably less soft than in the past recent years," he estimated.

The current edition of the November Business Meetings of Reinsurers has gathered over 200 participants, representing 86 companies from 17 countries. The event organized by the Delovoy Format Group is supported by a team of relevant partners including companies as Ingosstrakh, Selecta, RNRC, Scor and Skala.

XPRIMM Publications are Media Partners of the event and have presented in Moscow the most recent issue of the Russian XPRIMM Insurance Profile, containing statistical data and analysis materials with regard to the first half of 2017.

Leading reinsurance companies Swiss Re, Munich Re, Partner Re and Catlin XL act as key event's sponsors of the international conference "Agroinsurance and Reinsurance of Agricultural Risks in the CIS, Europe and Asia", which will take place on April 16-18, 2018 in Belgrade, Serbia.

Following the announcement of its acquisition by AXA, A.M. Best has placed under review with developing implications the Financial Strength Rating (FSR) of A (Excellent) and the Long-Term Issuer Credit Ratings (Long-Term ICR) of "a+" of the property/casualty subsidiaries of XL Group Ltd (XL).

Consumer environment in the current European regulatory and economic landscape, the upcoming legislative changes that will benefit consumers and users of insurance and private pension products, as well as digitalization and the impact of technological advances in the field of financial services are just a few of the topics that will be analyzed next week at the European Consumer Protection Conference.

Natural disasters in 2017 caused overall economic losses of USD 340 billion - the second-highest figure ever, show the latest data published by Munich Re. Moreover, 83% of natural disaster losses in 2017 were in North America, although only a quarter of all catastrophes occurred there.

Among the decisions adopted by the Romanian Financial Supervisory Authority (FSA) Board at its meeting on 7 March 2018, the appointment of Cosmin ANGHELUTA for a new mandate as Deputy General Manager of Gothaer Asigurari Reasigurari was also validated.

The 7th EIOPA Annual Conference takes place today in Frankfurt am Main, Germany. A review of the current supervisory covergence issues and of the prospects of the Pan European Personal Pension Product are on the event's agenda, together with analyzing the ways in which regulation may enable innovation.

"The Russian insurance market is ending a difficult year," Igor ALEKSEEV, Chairman of the Steering Committee of November Business Meetings of Reinsurers, Deputy Head of the Reinsurance Department, INGOSSTRAKH said today in Moscow.

"IIF2017 - Insurance in the DIGITAL World" conference brought together in Vienna well-known insurance professionals from all over the world who analyzed the latest digital trends in the industry, taking into account the fast digitalization of the financial services providers' world, in particular in the insurance field, which is creating both huge opportunities and strong challenges for the players.

On 9 November has started in Opatija, Croatia, the 2017 edition of the Croatian Insurance Days Conference, the traditional meeting of the Croatian insurance top professionals with their European peers. XPRIMM Publications are supporting the event as Media Partners.

The Baden-Baden meeting, one of the key events in the reinsurance calendar, has just set the final point of this year's edition. XPRIMM Publications have reported from the meeting's premises. Let's recap!

Central and Eastern Europe insurance markets are an important source of business for Lloyds, total premium income from this region increasing by EUR 64 million since 2010, pointed out the Lloyd's representative in a seminar dedicated to CEE insurance markets: "We are seeing strong growth from Czech Rep, Poland, Slovakia and Ukraine. At the same time are some contractions from Russia, Bulgaria, Romania and Hungary due to challenging trading conditions as political implications and other sanctions".

Asian insurance market, especially the Indian market - are considered to be "the new El-Dorado" of the global re/insurance market, with rapidly expanding markets and an dynamic environment: "Indian P&C re/insurance markets are expected to grow at a pace of 15% per annum", according to Victor PEIGNET, CEO, Global P&C, SCOR SE. The French -based reinsurer setted-up its Indian branch in 2016, after the authorisation from the local market authority - IRDAI. India's re/insurance market has become more attractive for global companies following the relaxation of regulatory requirements, and lately, "big names" in the industry entered the market by opening branches: GEN Re, SCOR, Lloyd's of London, MUNICH Re, SWISS Re, Reinsurance Group of America (RGA), HANNOVER Re, XL Catlin and others.